London pre-open: Stocks to fall as investors continue to mull tariff threats; UK jobs data in focus

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for more losses on Tuesday as investors continued to mull US President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats. The FTSE 100 was called to open down around 45 points.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: "The week started on a sour note in Europe. With the US markets closed, European equities spent the session trying to gauge the Greenland risks: how serious is this, how far could it go, and where could it end?

"Tariffs are obviously part of the story, and European companies with the highest exposure to US tariffs took the biggest hit. That familiar group from last year was back in focus - German carmakers, for example, and French luxury houses like Louis Vuitton, which slid more than 4% on Monday.

"The US was closed, but futures traded down. Nasdaq futures underperformed S&P and Dow futures, amid concerns that Big Tech could become Europe's target in the trade war.

"US Treasuries joined Monday's selloff this morning. The US 10-year yield jumped past 4.25% on renewed tariff uncertainty and rising rumours that Europeans could 'weaponise their US assets' - yes, weaponise is the word being used - to retaliate against Mr Trump's aggressive trade and geopolitical policies."

On home shores, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the unemployment rate was unchanged in November, while wage growth slowed modestly.

The unemployment rate in September through November was 5.1%, unchanged on the previous month. It was, however, notionally ahead of consensus expectations for 5%.

Average growth in employees' regular average earnings, which excludes bonuses, slowed to 4.5% from 4.6%, in line with expectations. Earnings including bonuses also slowed, nudging down to 4.7% from 4.8%.

In corporate news, defence group Qinetiq said it still expected to deliver organic annual revenue growth of 3% and an operating margin of around 11% despite near-term spending uncertainty.

"With an order backlog of around £5bn and a qualified pipeline of £11bn we have significant long-term visibility. Combined with our strong cash flow this allows for both investment in the business and compelling shareholder returns," the company said in a trading update.

Self-storage operator Big Yellow Group reported higher revenues in its third quarter as increased space and higher rents offset a slight dip in occupancy levels compared with last year.

Group revenues were up 2% year-on-year at £52.3m over the three months to 31 December, with like-for-like store revenues also growing 2%. The maximum lettable area across its 111 stores expanded 2.2% to 6.562m square feet, while average rent per square foot increased 4%.

Electrical retailer AO World said that its recently acquired recommerce business, musicMagpie, has partnered with Timpson to offer customers a quicker and more convenient way to trade in old smartphones and receive payment almost immediately.

After a successful four‑month trial, the service has now rolled out to more than 1,300 Timpson stores across the UK.